


Three Words

by Ardania22



Category: Senki Zesshou Symphogear
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, spoilers for the final season
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-16 04:10:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21030056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ardania22/pseuds/Ardania22
Summary: After the end of XV, Hibiki and Miku find themselves exactly the same as they always were... yet somehow, everything's changed.





	Three Words

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I guess I wrote another fanfic. It's official, I'm a lost cause. Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy this tribute to one of my favorite anime franchises, and be sure to leave a comment telling me what you think!

Hibiki couldn’t sleep.

That shouldn’t have been the case. Hibiki was _great _at sleeping. She was the champion sleeper. All her friends used to joke that no matter how bad he grades got in other subjects, at least she was always guaranteed an A+ in napping. It was 2 in the morning. She was snuggled underneath the plush blankets of her dorm room bed, baking in the toasty warmth. On any normal night she would be conked out and snoring by now, dead to the world until Miku shook her awake ten minutes after sleeping through her alarm.

But not tonight.

_Okay. Let’s try counting sheep again. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. SixseveneightninetenelevenSTOP._

Nope. Not tonight at all. Tonight, her brain was _determined _to keep her eyes open.

It was a refreshing problem to have, in some ways. Over the past few years, her work at SONG had required so much of her daily energy that she could barely manage to keep her eyes open at times. Work, school, play, work, school, play… her life’s rhythm would wear anyone out, especially anyone not as naturally energetic and stubborn as her. But now, at long last, that cycle was broken. Shem-ha was defeated, the relics were destroyed, and the threat of the Noise was entirely gone. Not to mention she and Miku would be graduating Lydian Academy in just a few months. For the first time in a long time, Hibiki’s life was entirely her own. It was exciting.

And it was going to utterly wipe her out if she couldn’t _get the heck to sleep first_.

_Come on, brain. Think sleepy thoughts._

Hibiki closed her eyes and started thinking. Sleep. Dreams. Warmth. Comfort. Home. Miku. Miku. Miku Miku Miku Miku Miku-

“MmmmMMMUuuufg!”

Hibiki clapped her hand over her mouth, feeling her cheeks burn red. _Oh my god, that was the most embarrassing noise I’ve ever made in my life. _Was her _brain _blushing too? It felt like it.

It really was hopeless, wasn’t it? No matter how hard she tried, her thoughts always strayed back to earlier in the evening. To a cloudless sky above as shooting stars rained by. To a cold, snowy winter escaped from in the clasp of a warm, tender hand.

_There’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time._

Hibiki curled up, feeling her heart start beating faster. It was unfair, really. How many times has she played this conversation over in her head? Fifty? A hundred? Two? It shouldn’t still be making her pulse race so recklessly.

“Hibiki?”

Miku’s sleepy voice cut through the silence. Hibiki stiffened; by now, she was certain her cheeks could be mistaken for apples, they were so flushed. Her sunshine was lying next to her, her head buried in her pillow. They were so close together on the top bunk, just as they had been for countless nights before. Lying in positions they had been lying in for as long as she could remember. A comfortable place they would slip into as easy as breathing.

Hibiki had never felt more nervous in that place than she did tonight.

“Sorry, Miku,” she whispered. “Did I wake you up?”

There was a pause. Then: “No.”

Hibiki blinked. “Couldn’t sleep?”

“Could you?”

“No.” Hibiki smiled. “Guess I’m failing napping after all.”

A stifled giggle came from Miku’s buried face. “Oh, Hibiki. What am I going to do with you?”

“Help me study for my other classes over lunch so I don’t flunk out before graduation? Pretty please?”

“Must I?”

“Miku.”

“You really need to start taking care of yourself.”

“Mikuuuuuuuuu.”

A flustered groan escaped from the pillow. “Nope. Nope. Not gonna work.”

Hibiki giggled. God, wasn’t she predictable. The mere sound of Miku’s soft, welcoming voice and the tension was already fading from her nerve endings. “Would you do it for… a trip to Flower tomorrow? My treat, all the okonomiyaki you can eat.”

“That sounds more like a gift for you.”

“Pleeeeeeease?”

Miku let out a long, defeated sigh. “Okay, you win. But you better pass all your finals, or I’ll never forgive you.”

“Deal!” Hibiki smiled and snuggled closer to her. “Thanks, Miku. What would I do without you?”

She regretted the words the moment she said them. There was the briefest shift in the bedsprings; Miku had tensed up ever so slightly. _Idiot. Idiot, idiot, idiot. _Miku had only just recovered from being possessed by an angry god and snatched away from her side. Why was she joking about them separating again?” I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean- I wasn’t-“

“It’s okay.”

“But-“

“Hibiki.”

There was another shift in the bedsprings. Miku had finally lifted her head out of the pillow and turned to face Hibiki. Her turquoise eyes seemed to sparkle in the darkness. “I know you didn’t mean it that way.”

Hibiki caught her breath. _God, you’re beautiful. _“O-okay,” she managed to get out. Then, upon second thought, she followed up with “Still, I’m sorry for scaring you like that.”

Miku smiled. “Okay,” she whispered. She reached out and clasped Hibiki’s hand. “Thank you.”

Miku’s hand was warm. It was so incredibly, wonderfully warm. Warm like sunshine, warm like sunflowers, warm like a million summer days that never seem to end. As if on instinct, Hibiki glanced away from Miku’s gaze. If she spent another moment drinking in those turquoise eyes, she had a feeling she would burst into flames on the spot.

It was a night like any other. It was a bed she and Miku had always shared. They were hands they had often clasped lying together in this exact position. Their conversation about Hibiki’s poor studying skills might have occurred five years ago, and it might occur five years in the future in exactly the same way. Everything was exactly as it had always been.

Nothing would ever be the same.

The seconds ticked by in silence. Hibiki listen to her breathing, listened to her heart as it beat anxiously against her chest, listened to Miku’s pulse shivering as if trying to match her pace. Her thoughts drifted, again, to that moment under the shooting stars. Had Miku been rolling it over in her head as much as she had? Of course, she must have. Of course they would both fail to sleep. Of course the thought of the words they shared would keep them up all night.

_I hope what I want to tell you is the same thing you want to tell me_.

Hibiki wet her lips. The silence was starting to weight on her. She wanted to talk, to pick up where they had left off earlier in the evening, but she was scared. She was scared to talk to Miku. It was one of the most unwelcome sensations she’d ever experienced. Not even getting her arm bitten off was this painful.

Tsubasa’s words rang in her ears. _Even when destined never to connect, the world and its people still come together._

_So try._

“When did you know?”

“Huh?”

Hibiki felt her blush grow, if possible, even deeper. “When did you… you know, know?”

Miku’s hand trembled in her grip. Hibiki winced; she still didn’t dare meet her gaze.

“I...” Miku’s voice faltered. “I think it was the concert. The first one.”

“When I almost…” Hibiki didn’t dare finish that thought.

“Yeah.”

Hibiki closed her eyes. Even now, the sensations came back to her so easily. The screaming, the panic, the rubble, the smoke chocking her lungs, the shrieking pain as the shards of Gungnir stabbed into her chest, Tsubasa’s agonized wail, the neon glare illuminating Kanade’s lifeless, dissolving body. The nightmares had gotten far less frequent over the years, but the memory never fully faded. The moment that changed her life, for better and worse.

“That long?”

“I mean.” Miku shuffled in place. “I already did by then. Even before, I knew you mattered to me. It was only when I… when you..” She shuddered. “I realized what those feelings meant then. When I thought about… losing you.” Her grip on Hibiki’s hand tightened. “I figured out the word, then. That suited how I felt. But I felt that way for longer. Maybe even since we first met.”

That last sentence made Hibiki’s heart leap in her chest. “Me too.”

She heard Miku gasp. Instinctively, she looked up, finally meeting Miku’s gaze again. Her eyes were wide, but not with shock. Affirmation, maybe? Awe? Was it the same look that Hibiki was wearing on her face right now? Like something she’d always hoped was true turned out to be so?

Hibiki trembled; she wanted to look away again. But this time, she forced herself to keep her eyes on Miku. No more looking away. Not from this.

_Not from you._

“Me too,” she repeated, amazed she was still able to keep talking. “Since we first met. When you helped me study so I passed that stupid math test, and you sang as we walked home together, I knew…” She inhaled deeply before continuing. “I knew you were sunshine. And I wanted you to shine for me. Forever.”

Miku’s eyes were boring into her, drilling into her skull. The words started spilling out, faster and faster, as if she was scared if she stopped talking, she’d never be able to start again. “You’ve done so much for me, Miku. You helped me believe in myself. You gave me a place to call home when my family was falling apart. You’ve always been there for me when I needed you, and you put up with all the stupid things I do, and all this time I never even realized what it meant to feel that way about you, or that you felt the same, and I didn’t let you stand by me, and I hurt you so much, and I- and I-“

That was it. That was as far as words were going to take her. Already her eyes were overflowing with tears and her voice was choking up in her throat. She couldn’t even see Miku’s expression anymore; she could only feel her embrace her, pulling her close to her chest with arms tighter than Hibiki had ever felt before. She cried, loud, painful sobs, buried in the warmth of Miku’s nightshirt, still so incredibly warm despite the dampness of Hibiki’s tears. She cried and cried and cried, feeling each new shudder pass through her body like a thunderclap.

“It’s okay.” Miku’s whisper filtered in between her sobs, tender and trembling. “It’s okay.”

Hibiki gulped heavily, shaking with the last of her sobs flowing out of her. She could tell Miku was crying herself; her body was shivering with quiet palpitations. But her tears were silent. Silent and soft and hidden. Shame, not embarrassment, burned her cheeks now. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, over and over again. “I’m so sorry.”

Every day since the concert that almost cost her life, Hibiki had thanked whatever god was listening that Miku hadn’t been there too. She’d been so relieved that her sunshine had escaped that carnage unharmed. But that hadn’t been the case at all. Miku had been carrying her own scars ever since, scars just as painful and cruel as the gash in Hibiki’s chest, scars she hid away for fear of making things even worse than they already were. She would rather hide her pain and suffer all alone than risk hurting the girl who meant so much to her.

Miku should have been able to trust Hibiki with anything, and she didn’t. And it would be a long time before Hibiki could ever forgive herself for that.

“You’re my sunshine,” she managed to choke out. Finally, words were returning to her. “You’re the place where I’m warmest. Where I’ll always return to. I’m so sorry I couldn’t be that for you.”

“But you are.” Miku’s grip on Hibiki became even tighter. “You’re my shining sun, now and forever.”

“But I wasn’t then.” Hibiki returned Miku’s hug, gripping her just as tightly. She felt the gentle shaking in Miku’s chest, the small tremors passing through her entire body. In that moment, she felt so fragile to Hibiki, like a glass vase that might shatter if dropped.

But she was still so _warm_. She was warm and soft and inviting and kind and hopeful and caring and comforting and _home_. That warmth would never break. It would never shatter. It would stay right there and keep shining, just as brightly as always, perhaps even brighter.

“Thank you,” Hibiki whispered. “Thank you so much.”

“Hibiki?”

Hibiki didn’t respond. She just held her tighter. At that moment, she never wanted to let go.

“Hibiki.”

Miku cradled Hibiki’s face in her hands. She looked up; Miku’s eyes were still wet with tears, her face red from their stains. But she was smiling, smiling brighter than Hibiki had ever seen her smile. “You’re the most remarkable person I’ve ever met. Do you know that?”

Hibiki exhaled. “Huh.”

“I’m serious.” Miku’s fingers teased the edges of Hibiki’s hair, tracing patterns in her curls. “You shine bright enough to light up my darkest nights. You give me hope when I need it most. You make me happy every single day, just by being… you.”

At this point, Hibiki had given up trying to quantify her blush. It had exceeded the boundaries of rationality long ago. “W-well, I try my best,” she stammered out.

Miku giggled again. “I know you do.” She pressed their foreheads together. “And no matter what happens, even if we make mistakes, even if we can’t understand each other sometimes… I believe in you.” She clasped Hibiki’s hand again. “I believe in you and your gentle fist.”

Hibiki blinked fiercely. _No. No more tears. _“Miku…” she whispered. She felt her breathing start to ease, the ache disappear from her chest. “You’re amazing.”

“_You’re _amazing.”

“Hey, stop that. We’re complimenting _you _now.”

“And leaving you out? No chance.”

Hibiki laughed. Not a giggle, but a full-fledged laugh. How was it possible for the sun to shine so bright in the middle of night? How was it possible to feel so light, so happy, just with a few words? She felt Miku start rocking beside her, laughing just as hard. On instinct, she hugged Miku tightly again, feeling her shake with mirth against her. The sensation, if anything, only made her laugh even harder. It was overwhelming. It was remarkable. It was something too perfect to be described in mere language, yet made perfect sense regardless. It spoke without a single word, filling Hibiki’s heart with joy the likes of which she’d never felt before.

She was home. Home was here. Home was Miku. Home was this bed, this embrace, this bond. It always was, and it always would be. She and Miku were with each other, as they’d been for years in the past, as they’d be for as long as they lived.

Nothing had changed at all.

Finally, the laughter ceased. The guffaws were replaced with deep inhales, both of them recovering the breath they’d lost. Hibiki held Miku tight, drinking in her warmth. It was 2 in the morning, the world was still outside, and here she was, side by side with her sunshine as always. What a beautiful, beautiful life.

“I’m home, Miku.”

“Welcome home, Hibiki.”

They lay in silence for quite some time after that. Hibiki felt Miku’s breath rise and fall in her chest, felt her own breath ease to match her pace. For the first time that night, she realized how tired she was. Her eyelids started drooping, her vision growing fuzzy. _About time, _she groggily thought. This was the last time she was letting her brain keep her up this late.

“Hibiki?”

Hibiki blinked herself awake. “Miku?”

There was a pause. Then: “Say it again.”

“Again?”

“What you said under the shooting stars. Say it again.”

Hibiki felt her blush creeping back. “You ask that _now?_”

“Hibikiiiiii.”

Hibiki shuddered in embarrassment. “Is that really how I sound when I’m pouting?”

“Hiiiiiibiiiiiikiiiiiiiii.”

“Ack, okay, okay! Just let me warm up first!”

Miku gave her a brief squeeze. “Baka.”

“Baka yourself.”

She pulled her head back. Once again, she met Miku’s gaze. This time, her eyes weren’t overwhelmed with emotion. They were content, soft, comforting, like two pools of clear water. They welcomed her in, offering her to take her shoes off and dip her feet in the shallows, sending ripples across the still surface.

Hibiki breathed. Once. Long and controlled. Taking the sight in. And then, she once again said the three words she’d said to Miku as the shooting stars fell above. Three words that had passed unspoken between them in every touch, every glance, every moment they shared together. Three words that had defined them ever since they’d met. Three words she finally had the courage to say aloud, to make real what had always been real and always would be real, for as long as the sun still shone in the sky above.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

And there was nothing more to say.


End file.
